


A Witch's Memories

by SwiftSeraph



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, We Are All Pokemon Trainers
Genre: Backstory, Flashbacks, Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, Mercenaries, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-10-10 00:52:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17415839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwiftSeraph/pseuds/SwiftSeraph
Summary: Cereza, a Delphox, has died. Quite a lot. And after six hundred years and countless lives, her memories are hazy. At the insistence of her descendant, Shaun, she decides to try and remember her lives - and why she keeps living them.





	1. Prologue

In one room of many aboard an airship, three seemingly inconcpiscous peoplemons sit. Shaun Sapphire, a human, Cereza, a shiny Delphox, and Cheshire, a Pyroar.  
  
<And that's how I was burnt at the stake for being a witch.>  
  
Shaun cringes. "Arceus, Cereza. Don't any of your stories have a happy ending?"  
  
<Not many of them.>  
  
Cheshire lazily licks his left forepaw. <Of those you can remember, at least.>  
  
Cereza sighs. <I hate to admit that you're right, but...yes, I have trouble remembering things. My brain was not designed to hold 600 years of memories, unlike Umbra's.>  
  
"Why have you never...written a journal or something? That's what I would do."  
  
<I've attempted that a few times but the journals inevitably end up destroyed or buried with one of my bodies in an ummarked grave,> Cereza remarks with little inflection, seemingly ignorant of the implications of having multiple corpses.  
  
<Actually, mistress, one journal was buried in another's grave - your husband's.>  
  
<My first journal was deemed important enough to be laid to rest alongside Koushirou?>  
  
Cereza's face darkens a moment, a sadness usually never seen on the fox's face as she strides over to the window, gazing upon the land below.  
  
Shaun looks at his ancestor, bewildered. "You died first?"  
  
<I'd rather not talk about it right now. Such memories are still...tender, even six centuries later. If you want answers, find the journal.>  
  
"He's buried in Ransei, yeah? Whatever the Steel kingdom is called?"  
  
Cereza blinks. <Wait Shaun that was sarca->  
  
Shaun Naruto-runs out of the room, coat flapping behind him.  
  
<I hate my bloodline.>  
  


* * *

  
  
"So, like..."  
  
<We're going to jump the fence, sneak into the crypt, and open up my dead husband's six-hundred year old grave.>  
  
"This feels wrong."  
  
<Well you are disturbing your ancestor's dead body.>  
  
"Thanks, I hate it."  
  
<Cheshire, keep a lookout.>  
  
Cheshire nods. <Yes, mistress.>  


* * *

  
  
Shaun grunts with exertion as he pulls out Koushirou's coffin. "Some help would be nice",  he growls.  
  
Cereza scoffs. <I'm supervising. Just be glad it's steel and not stone.>  
  
The coffin lightly thuds as Shaun sets it down.  
  
<Open it.>  
  
"CAN I HAVE FIVE GODSDAMNED SECONDS?"  
  
<No.>  
  
"Fuck you."  
  
<That's what he did.>  
  
Shaun rolls his eyes and pries the coffin open. He doubles over in a coughing fit as a cloud of dust flies into the air.  
  
Inside the coffin there's an armor-clad skeleton , a katana, a sword-and-shield, and a leather-bound book. Cereza fondly runs her fingers down the skeleton's arm before picking up the journal.  
  
Shaun raises an eyebrow. "What's up with the [European]-style sword?"  
  
<That's a dead Aegislash.>  
  
"Oh."  
  
Shaun awkwardly stares at the coffin for a moment. "Are we done here?"  
  
<Yes.>  
  
Cereza lazily flicks her staff, causing the coffin to close and slide back into place.  
  
"I hate you so much, Cereza."  
  
<You and everyone else, dear.>  
  
Cheshire falls down the stairs, panting. <Remember when you said security was light?>  
  
Cereza nods.  
  
<So that was a fucking lie.>  
  
Cereza shrugs. <What're they gonna do, kill me?>  
  
"Contrary to popular belief I like being alive."  
  
<See, Cheshire, that's what a fucking lie looks like.>  
  
Cheshire rights himself. <Of course, Mistress. Now can we leave?>  
  
<As soon as Shaun takes his thumb out of his ass and releases Beo.>  
  
Shaun stares blankly at Cereza for a moment before grabbing a Premier Ball and clicking it open. "Sinnoh, now. Before I wind up in jail."  
  
The Gallade rolls his eyes. <It's tempting to leave you here but I like Woomy and Jamie.>  
  
"What about Nero?"  
  
Beowulf gives Shaun a Look.  
  
"Trick question, no one likes Nero."  
  
Beowulf just shakes his head and snaps his fingers, engulfing everyone in a flash of pink light.  



	2. Bloodied Blades and Bruised Egos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura goes shopping, and nothing innocuous happens.

Shaun sets down a bag of takeout and looks around his secret base. A lamp in the corner, a hammock, an old box TV, a Switch, several beanbags, a gently-used futon, and some clear Christmas lights strung up on the roof.  
  
<Oh good, you're back.>  
  
Cereza's lying across three beanbags, journal in hand. Shaun looks around. "Where's everyone else?"  
  
<Out mining. Stealing flags. The usual. Come here, Shaun. Sit.> Cereza levitates a beanbag next to her, absently gesturing at it. Shaun sits down, food forgotten.  
  
"What's up?"  
  
<I need you to read my journal to me.>  
  
Shaun raises an eyebrow. "Hi, my name's Sakura, I'm 600-ish, and I never learned how to read."  
  
<Fuck you. It's in kanji. I don't remember how to read it.>  
  
"How-"  
  
<The Allies were not exactly fans of the Japanese, Shaun. Why else do you think I still have this accent?>  
  
"It's a nice accent, to be honest."  
  
Shaun opens the journal, revealing lines upon lines of feudal Japanese kanji. "I don't know what I expected. But I can make this work."  
  
"October 3, 151X. Cheshire suggested I start writing a journal. I don't see much point in it. I'm hardly a normal teenage girl. How many mercenaries out there haven't finished puberty?"  
  
Shaun blinks rapidly, considering who's writing this. "I can already tell this is gonna be good."  
  
<Keep reading or I'll eat your lo mein and sugar biscuits.>  
  
Shaun gives Cereza the bird before lifting the book back up. "Anyway, I'm getting offtrack. Still on edge, a bit. Always love the adrenaline high I get on contracts. It's always fun..."  


* * *

  
_Seeing the looks on people's faces as a 13-year old rips out their still-beating hearts._  
  
Sakura studies her handwriting before closing her diary and lifting her hood. "Come now, Cheshire."  
  
A Liepard pads down the wooden floor of the cheap, rickety shack that he and Sakura call home. <What now? Not that you understand me.>  
  
"Be a good boy and guard our house. That last job paid me double my usual price, so I'm gonna treat myself. I'm running low on candy and kunai anyway."  
  
Cheshire stretches and yawns. <Maybe if you didn't waste all of our money we could afford a nicer place.>  
  
Apparently this translates as "yes, good", given Sakura's response of a headpat. "I'll be back soon, Cheshire."  
  
Cheshire rolls his eyes. <Sure thing, Sakura.>  


* * *

  
Sakura pops some strawberry konpeitõ in her mouth as she enters her favorite blacksmith's shop. "Hello, Akita-shishou."  
  
The blacksmith looks up and pulls his black ponytail back. "Good afternoon, Sakura-san. How can I help you today?"  
  
"I need about a dozen kunai, and I also have a special request."  
  
Akita raises an eyebrow, intrigued. "Normal rate for the kunai. But what's this special request?"  
  
Sakura pulls her hood down and cocks her head at Akita. "You're the best blacksmith I know. Probably the best in all of Ransei. Have you ever worked with Obscuric metals?"  
  
"Aura-sensitive metals? Occasionally. It's rare I have a chance, since so few people request them and the materials are so rare."  
  
"So if I got you the ore you needed..."  
  
"I'd probably do it for free, Sakura. But you're not one to speculate."  
  
Sakura idly examines her nails. "A contact of mine found a meteorite. Offered to sell me some ore. I'm meeting him later."  
  
Akita rubs his chin. "I could forge you a steel blade or two. _If_ you get me meteoric iron."  
  
"I will, Akita. Now, may I get some kunai?"  


* * *

  
Something's wrong. There's smoke in the direction of Sakura's shack.  
  
"Oh no."  
  
Sakura starts charging through the city streets, body glowing with Aura as she leaps over everything in her way. Eventually she can see her shack...or what's left.  
  
The building's in flames. Cheshire is no where to be seen.  
  
"No no no no no no." Sakura doubles her pace, her Infusion letting her move at an inhuman pace. "Cheshire! Cheshire!"  
  
"Sakura don-"  
  
The Liepard's silenced as he's thrown in front of Sakura, who skids to a stop.  
  
"Don't touch him, girlie."  
  
Sakura goes rigid as she turns around, the four thugs who had Cheshire stepping out of hiding. "You know who we are?", one of them asks.  
  
Sakura rolls her eyes. "Some assholes with big egos and small dicks?"  
  
The leader of the group glares daggers. "Watch your tongue before I cut it out, sweetheart. I asked you a question."  
  
Sakura crosses her arms. "Some lovely,  polite gentlemen who set fire to my house and almost killed my friend. I imagine I upset you somehow."  
  
"You killed our friends. You slaughtered them in cold blood."  
  
"So you're bandits. Or rival mercenaries. Should I care?"  
  
"We work for-"  
  
"I don't care."  
  
The bandits are taken aback. "What?"  
  
Sakura sighs. "I don't care. You're all the same. Just target practice really."  
  
One of the bandits' faces contorts into an expression of raw anger. "Come on boss, she's one little girl! I'm not gonna takes this!"  
  
The bandit lets out a bellow as he rushes Sakura, naginata in hand.  
  
Sakura smirks and effortlessly sidesteps, the tantō hidden in her sleeve halfway through the bandit's neck before he can react. With a grunt of exertion, Sakura pierces the other end of the throat, blood splattering her hood as she snatches the naginata and launches it at the second of the bandits, catching him in the shoulder.  
  
The two unharmed bandits have barely drawn their weapons - a katana and yumi - before the impaled bandit's face is consumed by an Obsuric flame. Sakura grins, barely affected by the energy needed to melt someone's entire face off. "Apologize, and your deaths will be quick!"  
  
The last grunt nocks an arrow and aims directly at Sakura. "Don't move, bitch!"  
  
"Really now? So rude." Sakura raises her hands, palm out. "See? My hands are empty."  
  
_What idiots..._  
  
Sakura smirks slighly as she readies her attack. Obscura flows through her body like blood, almost intoxicating.  
  
_There!_  
  
The merc charges forward in a burst of Obscura, planting a shoulder in the yumi-wielding bandit's stomach before following up with a knee to the groin. "Weren't you boys ever taught manners?"  
  
At this point the lead bandit is upon Sakura, katana raised. Sakura, having no time to draw a weapon, simply takes the path of least resistance - she ducks. Somehow, the outlaw fails to account for this and slices through air.  
  
"Sweet dreams."  
  
An elbow to the skull followed up by having his own katana snatched and stabbed through his ribs and lung. The leader falls down, dead.  
  
Sakura crosses her arms and shakes her head as the archer staggers to his feet. "And that's how you always die," she remarks with disappointment.  "Not with a bang, but a whimper."  
  
The fear has scarcely flashed on the archer's face before Sakura leaps upon him, a kunai in each hand.  
  
A kunai in each eye, and screams that echo across the town as the archer's brain is simultaneously frozen and torched.  
  
"Don't fuck with a witch."  
  
Sakura yanks the kunai out and wipes them clean on the bandit's clothes before turning to her house. "Right. Still on fire." She draws some inky-black sigils in the air, concentrating before releasing a blast of super-cold air at the raging inferno. The flames die out to embers.  
  
<Sakura? Could you maybe remember me down here?>  
  
The mewing attracts Sakura's attention. "Oh, Cheshire! Are you alright dear?"  
  
<Except for the broken ribs, concussion, and bruised ego, sure.>  
  
"Oh, let me take you to a healer!"  


* * *

  
Sakura's left Cheshire in the healer's care and is now salvaging what she can.  
  
First, the bandits. She sets aside the intact weapons before patting the bodies down, managing to find some coin-pouches.  
  
Then she takes her tantō and whittles four stakes from burnt wood. These are planted in the ground by the house.  
  
Next, Sakura drags the corpses together. The heads are lopped off and impaled upon the stakes, while the bodies themselves are cremated by Obscura.  
  
The next hour is spent poking around in the rubble of her former home. Her diary's remarkably intact, as is her hidden stache of money. Most of her few possessions were destroyed by the blaze, and the house itself is useless now.  
  
"Fuck me." Sakura gathers her salvage up in a sack and inspects the leader's head. "When I find your friends, they'll wish I killed them."

  
And she sets off into town.  



	3. A New Blade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very short chapter in which Sakura gets a new sword.

_Inhale._  
  
_Exhale._  
  
_Inhale._  
  
_Ex-_  
  
Sakura grimaces as the sound of a hammer striking metal echoes up from the bottom floor. "Could you keep it down?"  
  
"Could you live somewhere else?"  
  
Sakura pouts. Cheshire stretches lazily in the corner.  <He's right, you know.>  
  
Sakura climbs to her feet and dons her cloak. "I feel like you said something mean, Cheshire." She turns back, looking out the door. "I'll be back!"  
  
Half a minute later Sakura's dropped down into the street and is weaving through the crowds. Eventually she comes across her usual haunt - a well-hidden street full of alcohol, woman, and mercs.  
  
Perfect place for a 13-year old.  


* * *

  
  
A little later, and Sakura is reviewing her newest contract. She avoids the Fae, of course, but there's always goods to be stolen and people to be killed.  
  
She needs money for candy, of course. And q house, she supposes.  
  
Nothing too difficult today. Someone just needs to get roughed up. Not killed.  
  
Sakura smirks. "Really? It's that easy? I'm almost disappointed."  


* * *

  
"Welcome back."  
  
Sakura nods at Akita and takes off her cloak. The bulging purse in her hands makes a jingling noise. "Half of today's earnings, as a gift."  
  
She tosses the purse onto a table and crosses her arms, looking at the blacksmith. "Is it finished?"  
  
"Almost. Just need you to put the finishing touches on it."  
  
Sakura nods and holds out a hand expectantly. Akita produces a sheathed katana and sets it in her hands.  
  
The young girl grips the hilt and unsheathes the sword, weighing it in her hand. The balance and size are perfect; it feels as if it weighs no more than a feather. It's almost like an extension of her arm.  
  
Akita gazes at her expectantly. "Well, Kunaimi, try it."  
  
The room crackles with static electricity as Sakura pours her very soul into the katana. Goosebumps form on her skin as she funnels more Obscura into her sword. The blade suddenly turns ice-cold, them bursts into flame, then starts arcing with lightning. Sakura lets the entirerty of her katana become swallowed by 'Scura before she severs the flow.  
  
"You've outdone yourself this time, Akita. Does she have a name?"  
  
"Not yet. I'd figured I'd let you do the honors."  
  
Sakura smiles innocently. "I get to name it, huh...?"  
  
"..."  
  
"Shadowcleaver. That's it."  
  
Akita nods and takes the sword and sheath. "Shadowcleaver. Not bad."  


* * *

  
That night, Sakura sits on the roof of the blacksmith, Cheshire resting on her shoulder. Shadowcleaver rests in her lap, sheathed.  
  
"You know something, Cheshire? I think our luck's about to change."  
  
<You aren't the one who had three broken ribs.>  
  
"No...I'm sure of it. Our luck is gonna change."  


* * *

  
  
Back in the modern day, Shaun pauses in his reading as Cereza holds up a hand.  
  
<Skip ahead a bit.>  
  
"The last entry in here is about you getting pregnant. Where do you want to go?"  
  
<...I joined the Spectran army when I was ... the war started when I was 19. Go there.>  
  
Shaun thumbs through the diary a bit and locates an entry six years down the line.

"It seems my fame - or rather infamy - precedes me. Half the other soldiers want to be me, and the other half want to be anywhere but near me."

Cereza smirks. <I was a conceited little girl. Now I'm a conceited old woman.>

Shaun rolls his eyes and resumes his reading. "Good for them. They're not idiots. Everyone in this world will either love me..."

 

 


End file.
